The overall objectives of this proposed program are to: 1. to enhance the scientific productivity and research competitiveness of RIMI faculty at Tougaloo College. 2. To renovate physical space to provide a more conducive research/learning environment for students. 3. To provide proposal development and grant management training to RIMI CORE faculty and students. 4. To train students in the field of research and provide mentoring to ensure success on individual research projects. 5. Improve biomedical research capacity and productivity, which will permit Tougaloo College to establish a Biomedical Facility. 6. To strengthen faculty research endeavors by promoting and expanding biomedical collaborations of Tougaloo College faculty with research faculty at major research intensive universities Three Tougaloo College faculty will collaborate with faculty from the collaborating institutions. Dr. Bettye Sue Hennington will collaborate with faculty from the University Medical Center on her subproject entitled, "Using Mass Spectroscopy to Characterize Transcription Proteins and F2-isoprostanes." UMC has experience in understanding the mechanisms linking increased risk for development of disease in later life in individuals born with low birth weight. Its current research addresses the role of oxidative stress in low birth weight hypertension. Increased reactive oxygen species leading to oxidative stress is related to the pathogenesis of human cardiovascular disease and hypertension. Demonstrating a direct link between oxidative stress and disease is difficult, partly due to the diversity of analytical procedures used in the field. Dr. Dr. Rajendram Rajnarayanan will collaborate with Jackson State University on his SUBPROJECT #entitled "Estrogen Receptor-Calcium Binding Protein Interfaces as Targets for the Discovery of Novel Therapeutics against Antiestrogen Resistant Breast Cancers." These studies have substantial potential benefits and are particularly important since tamoxifen-resistant breast cancers pose a significant risk. Dr. Jinghe Mao will collaborate with the University of Southern Mississippi on her SUBJECT entitled, "Lipidomic and DMA Microarray Analyses of Peripheral Blood in African-American Adults with Type II Diabetes." The USM staff specializes in microarray and metabolomics data analysis techniques. They use a wide range of industry and research standard software to analyze gene expression and metabolomics data. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]